Online Shopping Safety Tips

online shopping

Here are some tips for staying safe and enjoying the world of online shopping sites. Always make sure that your shopping session is secure. 

Here are some tips for staying safe and enjoying the world of online shopping sites.

1. Always make sure that your shopping session is secure. There is a very simple way to check this. Look at your navigation bar, the bar where the web address is listed, secure sites will say: https://. The “s” stands for “secure.” If the “s” is not present then you are not in a secure session and should consider different online shopping sites.

2. There should be a seal located near the bottom of the page. The most common seal is from a company called Verisign. This seal means that this company is guaranteed to offer a safe and secure browsing and purchasing experience. If you would like to know more about the security of the site, click on the seal. This will open another window that shows what online shopping sites are verified to be protected against.

3. The Better Business Bureau does, in fact, work with online retailers. Check down at the bottom of the page to see if they are a BBB business. If you’d like, you can click on the BBB seal to see how they are rated by other consumers! In addition, the BBB will accept comments on business from consumers. If you have an exceptionally good experience or a horrifyingly bad experience, be sure you head to their website and let other consumers know!

4. Layout is very important to shoppers. If you get to a site and you don’t like the colors used, if you can’t find anything, and you find the whole experience to be frustrating and distressing, don’t shop there. But, before you leave you should let them know with an email. Many sites have a “Contact Us” page where you can leave a note.

5. Be sure that the company offers you payment options that you are happy with. Most websites will accept credit cards, but some may only accept them through a third-party company known as Paypal. Make sure you’re comfortable using Paypal, as you will have to make an account in order to use their services.